


A Bed Of Roses

by vondrostes



Series: Texas Fic [3]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Aftercare, Bottom Harry, Canon Compliant, Coming Untouched, Crying, Dom/sub, Feminine Harry, Fluff and Smut, Fucking Machines, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Masturbation, Multiple Orgasms, Overstimulation, Pining, Restraints, Sex Toys, Sex Work, Spanking, Sub Harry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-29 11:55:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19019425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vondrostes/pseuds/vondrostes
Summary: Texas 2.5: Harry brings a new toy to one of their long-distance sessions.





	A Bed Of Roses

**Author's Note:**

> This was a Request (and a really fun one to do)! I actually didn't really plan on covering one of their Skype sessions together, but the word length worked out for something like this, as did the timing--I have another Request for the next official part of the series that I am currently working on right now, with plans for an additional part 4 to follow. Enjoy!
> 
> Twitter: @vondrostes & @vondrostesupd8s  
> Tumblr: @vondrostes

The nice thing about having Harry as a semi-frequent client (yes, Texas counted every three to six months as ‘frequent’) was that Texas rarely had to work in the in-between periods. In fact, he didn’t really have to work at all with the money he’d made from their prior sessions, but there was no telling when Harry would get bored of him, so he tried to maintain his connections with the clients he was fonder of in the meantime.

Currently, Texas hadn’t done a session in over two weeks and wasn’t due for another one in at least a week and a half. He could tell his flatmate was flabbergasted by his ability to still pay rent, but Texas didn’t bother letting him in on the secret. He was planning to move out soon anyway. He just hadn’t decided where to go yet, was all.

In a strange turn of events, spending time with Harry had caused Texas to think about returning to the States for the first time in years. Not New York City, because he had way too much baggage there and wasn’t sure he could even stand becoming the person he’d been while at NYU again, but maybe somewhere on the West Coast instead. He wasn’t sure what the scene was like in LA, but the beachfront property was tempting. And he’d be closer to Harry for what seemed to be the majority of his downtime as of late.

For a while Texas had unsuccessfully tried to convince himself that Harry wasn’t a major motivator in his decision as he browsed listings in Venice Beach and Malibu day after day, but he just wasn’t that good at lying to himself unfortunately. Really though, could he be blamed for it?

And speak of the devil, Texas mused as his phone lit up next to him on top of the duvet with Harry’s name flashing across the screen. Or think of him, anyway. He took care to pause the marathon of Queer Eye he’d been bingeing on his laptop before answering, grateful that Harry couldn’t see the effects of Texas’s boredom now that he was pulling away more and more from his regular work.

“You busy?” Harry asked right off in a breathy voice.

He clearly had something planned, and Texas took one last look at his laptop before exiting out of the Netflix window.

“Nope,” Texas replied casually. “I’m all yours.” He reclined back against the pillows, waiting for Harry’s name to pop up in the little blue Skype window with a video request. It followed within a few seconds, and Texas quickly switched over from his phone to the laptop instead.

Harry waved at him from the video chat window as he adjusted the Bluetooth headset they always used during sessions so it fit more comfortably around his tiny ears. Texas waved back, but it was half-hearted, his attention diverted almost immediately by the protective cover Harry had laid out over the whole bed. Texas remembered recommending it to him in a conversation they’d had over text. A brief conversation; Texas had never found out exactly what Harry had planned on using it for.

“I see you’ve pulled out all the stops,” Texas commented as Harry straightened out what little bedding still remained.

Harry turned to him with a grin, his tattoos peeking out of the corner of one of the silk kimono-style robes he always wore during their sessions. “You haven’t seen anything yet,” he replied before making his way back to where his own laptop must have been perched on the desk facing his bed.

“Seems like you have this all planned out,” Texas continued. Usually it was him steering the direction of their scenes, not the other way around. Harry liked the comfort of knowing he didn’t have to make any decisions for a little while. This was out of the norm for them both. “Maybe we’ll make a proper switch out of you yet.”

Harry laughed out loud at that. “I don’t think so,” he said. “I just wanted to try out a new toy is all. I thought you could help me with it.”

“Oh?” Texas leaned in closer to his own laptop, like it would somehow help him spot the toy in question. “Are you wearing this new toy by any chance?” he wondered.

Harry shook his head. He typed something into the chat and hit send. A link. “Open that,” he ordered.

Texas raised his eyebrows. “Yes, ma’am,” he joked even while clicking the link itself. It opened in his browser, leading to a rather intriguing website that seemed to advertise long-distance sex toys—vibrators that could be controlled remotely and the like.

“Download that app,” Harry instructed.

Texas made a face. “This isn’t going to be like the first time we tried to use Skype, is it?” he asked while rapping his fingertips against the edge of the laptop, impatiently waiting for the installer to finish. That first session had been rife with all sorts of technological issues, but they’d managed to work out most of the kinks (ha) since then. Throwing new technology into the mix was an inconvenience, but then again, what Harry wanted, Harry usually got.

“I tested it out before I called you,” Harry reassured him. “It should work fine. And this way you’ll be able to see my face while I’m on the bed, too.”

Texas raised his eyebrows at hearing that and quickly skimmed the menus in whatever new-fangled app Harry had just sent him. It only took a few minutes to get it set up under Harry’s careful tutelage, and by the time everything was finished on his end, he had the Skype window on the left side of the screen, and another window on the right, showing a close-up view of Harry’s careful arrangement of pillows, as well as a simplistic looking UI modeled after a dial, going from one to eleven.

“Okay,” Texas said once everything was in order. “So what now?”

Harry held up a finger and moved offscreen. Texas waited patiently, curiously watching as Harry entered the frame again—butt-first this time—dragging an unwieldy black contraption along with him.

Harry took up most of the window, making it hard to tell what exactly he was positioning at the foot of the bed until he moved away again, and even then, it took Texas a few seconds to figure out just what he was looking at.

For all his experience, Texas had never utilized a fucking machine during a scene before. Or outside of one, either. They were prohibitively expensive on his end of things, and before Harry, he’d never had a client decide to provide one of their own accord. This would be a new experience for them both, apparently.

“The app controls the machine?” Texas assumed as Harry stood off to one side and undressed.

Harry nodded and clambered onto the bed. “Up for it?” he challenged, totally naked now, his legs sprawled out carelessly underneath him. “How do you want me?”

Texas had to take a moment to consider the possibilities. “Ankle cuffs,” he finally decided. “On your stomach, holding the headboard. I don’t want you to come until I give you permission.” He paused, thinking over the logistics, making sure that Harry wouldn’t be putting himself in a position where he’d be in any danger. “Before,” Texas continued, “when you said you’d tested things. On yourself?” He wanted to know if Harry had even used the fucking machine yet, whether he knew he’d like it.

Harry perked up at the question but shook his head as he pulled the leg restraints from either side of the foot of the bed toward himself.

That made things a little harder for Texas, but he couldn’t deny he was secretly pleased to hear it. “I assume you prepped before you called me,” he said, “but I want you to lube up again. Just in case.”

Harry nodded obediently and reached over toward the nightstand to do as he’d been asked. Texas continued to survey the scene as Harry worked, his mind racing in anticipation. It had been a while since he’d felt like this with a sub. About a sub.

Texas pushed that thought out of his mind for now, tried to ground himself in the moment instead. “Who mounted the GoPro?” he wondered as he squinted at the tiny black box he could just barely make out on top of Harry’s headboard.

“Family friend,” Harry replied vaguely. He rarely mentioned anyone he knew by name, which Texas supposed made sense, but it seemed at odds with how casual he’d been about letting Texas talk to his mother of all people on the phone during their last meeting in-person.

“And how’d you explain why you needed it?”

Harry shrugged and flexed his feet, testing out the restraints to make sure they would hold. “Just told him the truth.”

“Really,” Texas replied flatly.

Harry glanced up at the laptop with a skeptical expression. “Believe it or not, my proclivities aren’t exactly a secret. Hell, I even wrote a song about it. Years ago.”

“Which one?” Texas asked, curious now.

Harry laughed. “I’ll send it to you after we’re done.”

There wasn’t much opportunity for small talk once Harry had undergone the somewhat arduous task of securing himself in a facedown position with the head of the dildo attached to the fucking machine pressed against his hole.

“I’m going to test it out, okay?” Texas told him, waiting for the nod of acknowledgement before touching anything on the app he’d downloaded.

Tentatively, he moved the dial up to the very first notch, watching as the dildo—a fairly middling length and width, but enough for Harry to really feel it once they got going—breached Harry’s entrance with no effort at all. It sunk in about halfway before drawing back out again. Texas stopped the machine after that.

“Scoot back,” he told Harry. “Just a little. Then grab the headboard and tilt your head up so I can see.” That was why he’d had Harry do it this way instead of lying on his back, after all. Because it made for a better angle of Harry’s face. And it was safer, Texas told himself, if he could see Harry’s expressions more clearly. It was all coming from a purely professional standpoint, of course.

Harry was already breathing a bit more heavily before Texas even turned the machine back on.

“Ready?” Texas double-checked. “What’s your safe word?”

“Minnesota,” Harry replied.

His phone was by his head as well, a button softly pulsing on the screen that would allow him to stop the fucking machine at any point by himself if it ever got to be too much. Texas didn’t think Harry would have reason to use it, though. He’d seen firsthand how willing Harry was to go beyond any average person’s limits. If Harry safe worded, it would mean Texas wasn’t doing his job right.

“Remember,” Texas reminded him as he started the machine on the lowest setting once again, “you aren’t allowed to come without my permission.”

Texas knew by now what Harry liked and didn’t—the list had been very helpful in that regard, as was their myriad experiences together thus far—so he wasn’t worried by the sweat trickling down Harry’s jaw, or the way he white-knuckled the headboard on every in-stroke of the machine.

Texas counted up to thirty before increasing each increment on the dial, as both a way to let Harry adjust to the new pace as well as keeping himself focused on _Harry_ , and not the boner currently poking a hole in his sweatpants. It was difficult to pretend he wasn’t every bit as affected by this as Harry was, but this wasn’t about him. It was about Harry. Texas wasn’t even a participant this time, just a facilitator, and he needed to concentrate.

Texas moved the notch on the dial up to the halfway mark and started counting again.

Harry started shaking a few minutes after that, his whole body trembling with the effort of keeping himself in place. Texas watched as his feet flexed against the bed, his toenails painted the same bright red as his fingers. Harry’s face was screwed up in a grimace as his hands clenched around the bedposts, searching frantically for something to keep him grounded.

His phone was still lying there, easily within reach, but at no point did Harry reach over to stop the machine, not even when Texas ratcheted up the speed again, and again, and again.

Texas was almost certain they were going to make it to the highest setting without incident when a shrill noise suddenly ripped itself from Harry’s throat, his face screwed up in the tell-tale throes of orgasm just before he went limp against the mattress.

Texas hadn’t anticipated that Harry would come that quick from just the machine fucking him, and for a moment, forgot to stop it, only realizing that he was still in control of the damn thing when garbled sounds continued to pour out of Harry’s mouth as the dildo in his ass continued to pound him mercilessly just a few ticks from its max speed.

Texas moved to stop it and then paused, reconsidering. Harry had come without permission after all. He deserved a bit of punishment.

Texas turned it down to a more manageable setting and sat back again, watching as Harry writhed on the bed, his hands still clenching weakly against the bedposts as he moaned out noises that were indistinguishable from either pleasure or pain.

Finally, Harry lifted his head again. “Please,” he gasped out with tears in his eyes.

Texas turned off the machine, and Harry went limp again.

The dildo at the end of the piston remained buried in Harry’s ass, like a pin through a butterfly. Harry lying there in his own mess was just as pretty a picture, and Texas couldn’t help but reach down into his joggers to palm himself as he watched Harry’s glistening back muscles rising and falling with each labored breath.

Texas allowed Harry to rest for a moment, just long enough to work his hand over his own cock a few times but nowhere near enough to get any satisfaction out of it, before continuing. “I told you not to come without my permission,” Texas said in a tone that made it clear the scene hadn’t yet ended.

Harry didn’t reply, but Texas hadn’t expected him to.

“Get up,” Texas instructed. “Take off your restraints and get your paddle.”

It took Harry a few seconds to obey, but Texas didn’t bother to reprimand him for the delay. Every muscle in Harry’s body seemed to tremble with the effort it took for him to pull himself off the dildo, and once it was gone, Texas’s eyes trained in on the gape it had left, his mouth practically watering, his dick throbbing, every molecule in his body wishing he was there in the room with Harry to fuck into the empty space the machine had cored out of him.

Harry finally rolled over onto his back with a bit more effort. His legs were still tangled up in the restraints and crossed at the knees in a way that couldn’t have been the least bit comfortable. There was come smeared over his belly, in his sparse pubic hair, across the mattress cover. He looked wrung out, exhausted, with tears still sprouting in the corners of his eyes. And they were nowhere near finished.

It took Harry a minute or two to free his legs from the cuffs around his ankles. His hands were shaky still, fumbling as he loosened the buckles. Once he finally extricated himself, he carefully slid to the far side of the bed to grab his paddle, which had already been laid out on the nightstand next to the lube.

That gave Texas pause. Harry hadn’t specified impact play as something he wanted for this session in particular, which potentially meant he’d expected to be punished—that he might have come on purpose, hoping to get a reaction out of Texas. Harry could be bratty, but he wasn’t the manipulative type, at least not from what Texas had seen. Maybe he was just unnervingly well-prepared in this case.

“Kneel with your head toward the foot of the bed,” Texas ordered. “Five spanks each. I’ll count them.”

It was even worse for Texas once Harry had gotten into position on his hands and knees with his legs spread, his ass facing the GoPro mounted to his headboard. Texas could see his exposed hole in higher definition now, which did nothing to ease the aching erection trapped inside his sweatpants.

Texas blinked a few times and forced himself to snap out of it. Harry was still frozen in place, waiting for Texas to count out his punishment.

They always did it like this when they sessioned remotely. It was easier for Texas to maintain control of things even though he wasn’t there to mete out each impact against Harry’s skin himself. This way, if Texas decided that Harry wasn’t being rough enough, he could stretch things out a little longer. It was practically routine now, as Harry would almost always expend his strength in the first few swats before faltering on the remainder.

“One,” Texas said. He watched as Harry gave a well-practiced swing against his left ass-cheek, the paddle hitting his skin with a satisfyingly loud thwack before he moved his hand to hover the paddle over the right. “Two.” Again, leaving a blooming red mark that slowly appeared against Harry’s milky-white ass. “Three.”

Harry made it all the way to eight before his wrist twitched of its own accord, halting the momentum in his swing. The paddle made a dull sound as it swatted over the scarlet marks already staining his skin.

“Eight,” Texas counted it again, making it clear the previous hit hadn’t counted. When Harry didn’t react, Texas raised his voice and repeated himself, firmly. “Eight.”

Harry’s head dropped onto the mattress with a muffled wail as he mustered up the energy to spank himself again, this time hard enough to match the others. He stayed there, his whole body shaking with the force of his sobbing as he dished out nine and ten in quick succession before finally collapsing into a heap in the middle of the bed.

Texas hadn’t been able to make Harry cry during their other Skype sessions. Not like this. Apparently, the fucking machine had been a solid investment.

“Baby,” Texas said in a softer tone, “I want you to check in once you feel up to it, okay?” He’d give Harry two minutes, and if he still seemed inconsolable after that, Texas would deal with it in any way he could to make sure Harry was safe. “Babe?”

Harry finally rolled over again with a sigh. His tears seemed to have dried up, Texas noted with mixed feelings of disappointment and relief. “Done already?” Harry asked with a dopey smile. Texas hoped he wasn’t imagining the tinge of melancholy behind the question.

Texas shook his head. “Just want you to eat and drink something before we keep going. Can you stand up?”

Harry nodded without even bothering to test it, but Texas supposed he knew his own body better than anyone else. If Harry thought he was okay, then he was okay.

Harry laid there for another minute or so, the soft music playing in the background now finally audible enough for Texas to hear even if he couldn’t make out what it was. Finally, Harry climbed off the bed and softly padded out of view before returning several minutes later with a bottle of water and a fruit cup. He held them up to the camera on the headboard as if in offering.

“That’ll do,” Texas pronounced, since Harry evidently seemed to want his approval before he started in on the snacks. He watched Harry eat slowly and then drain half the bottle of water before he got up again, this time presumably to empty his bladder again just in case.

This time, when Harry came back to bed, his hands were empty, his face expectant.

“Do you still have that bullet vibe?” Texas asked when Harry was comfortable again. “The one with the thingy?” The ‘thingy’ in question being a jury-rigged cock ring that would keep the vibrator pressed up against the underside of Harry’s cock for however long Texas decided he should keep it there.

Harry looked surprised by the request even as he nodded in confirmation. Good, Texas thought. He preferred to keep Harry guessing when he could.

“You owe me another orgasm,” Texas said after Harry had retrieved the bullet vibe and attached it just under the head of his dick. “I want you to lay on your back this time. And you still need my permission to come. Do you want the restraints again?”

Harry nodded and moved automatically to comply with Texas’s instructions.

“More lube, babe,” Texas reminded him before he could get too far. The last thing either of them needed was internet speculation about Harry’s sudden inability to sit down for the next month because they weren’t being careful enough.

Texas watched as Harry fingered himself again with slick fingers before moving the same hand to the dildo that had previously been inside him, coating that too with the excess. Harry wiped the hand down and then made short work of strapping his ankles back into the cuffs. He scooted down the length of the bed, positioning himself more easily than he had when Texas had made him do the same but on his stomach.

The dildo on the machine was deeper now, Texas thought. He gave it a testing thrust. “Okay?” he asked.

Harry nodded.

“Turn on the vibrator and grab the headboard again,” Texas instructed.

Harry obeyed silently and laid out flat on his back once he was ready, his arms outstretched above his head as he clung onto the bedposts. He was already panting a little just from the vibrator whirring directly against his cock, and Texas had him ride it out a little, waiting to see just how much he could take before distracting him with another sensory overload.

Harry was shivering all over, wide-eyed and nervous, by the time Texas flicked the fucking machine back on again. This time he switched it on at the halfway point without giving Harry any warning. A smile spread slowly across his face when Harry jolted at the sudden movement of the dildo in his ass.

This time, Texas moved the dial up each increment every fifteen seconds, barely giving Harry any time to adjust at all before accelerating the pace of the strokes battering his already abused hole. He’d be plenty sore after this; there wasn’t any doubt in Texas’s mind about that, but Harry didn’t try to get away from the machine.

He didn’t even let go of the headboard, even though his hands had left sweat-slick marks on the posts as he clung to them for dear life. His torso was heaving rapidly, his eyes half-closed now while his mouth remained slack and open.

Texas wished he could feed his cock into that warm, dark space, wished he could make Harry choke on a real cock while the silicone one in his ass fucked him to pieces.

Texas wasn’t sure whether he’d turned the machine up all the way before he’d gotten a hand around his own dick again or whether it was the other way around, but he couldn’t stop himself now from shoving the laptop out of the way as he shucked his sweatpants down around his thighs, giving himself enough room to jack off in earnest as he watched Harry come undone on his screen.

Texas was thankful Harry was too overwhelmed to even consider watching his own Skype feed, because he knew he must have looked almost feral as he fisted his cock, his whole body coiled tight from the orgasm it had been demanding since this whole thing had begun.

Harry wasn’t in any better state. The dildo in his ass was fucking in and out of him so fast it was barely visible on Texas’s screen, and the muscles in his arms were tensed up from the effort of clinging to the headboard, the effort of being _good_. Because this time, Harry wouldn’t come without permission. Texas knew he wouldn’t dare.

But it would be a close thing. Texas could feel himself hurtling toward his own orgasm, and he wasn’t sure now that even if he took his hand off his cock right then that he’d be able to stop himself. He couldn’t imagine the state Harry was in, even with one orgasm already in the books.

Harry was crying again—big, fat, globular tears streaming down his face as he sobbed too quietly for Texas to hear over the sound of the machine. It didn’t matter. The sight of him was enough to send a white-hot jolt of electricity coursing through Texas’s belly as he worked his cock even harder. He could barely get out the word ‘come’ loud enough that he could be sure Harry had heard before he was coming himself, in hard, pulsing spurts that splattered onto his hand, his sweatpants, his fucking _computer_.

Texas was already bemoaning the clean-up job as he worked himself through the aftershocks, but underneath the traces of come now coating his screen, Harry was still visible, his muscles twitching spasmodically for just a few more seconds before he jerked hard against the restraints on his legs. Texas watched as his cock and balls flexed uncontrollably, his body seizing so hard it looked painful. It sounded painful, too, Harry’s cries now loud enough to be heard over the machine that was still fucking into him at its highest speed.

“Shit,” Texas muttered to himself as he finally released his cock and grabbed his laptop again so he could turn the damn fucking machine off before it put Harry into a sex-induced coma. “You still with me?”

Harry didn’t respond.

Texas ignored that for the time being in favor of leaning over to grab a box of tissues from the bedside table. Cleaning up his laptop was frantic work, and he didn’t do a very good job of it by the time he turned his attention back to Harry, but there were more important matters to deal with.

“Harry, babe. Are you okay? I need you to answer me.” Texas typically tried to steer clear of actually letting Harry go under while they were doing long-distance scenes like this. It was a policy he had with all his clients, but like with everything else, Harry seemed more inclined to convince him to bend the rules. He just hoped he wasn’t about to massively regret it. “Harry, you need to talk to me so I know you’re okay.”

The vibrator on his cock was still buzzing as Harry laid there flat on his back, almost completely lifeless. Finally, just as Texas was starting to panic and beginning to contemplate actually making use of one of those emergency contact numbers he’d been given, Harry lifted his head with a sleepy frown.

“I’m okay,” he said in a hoarse voice.

Texas nodded and forced himself to let the breath he’d been unintentionally holding out in small increments as his heart rate gradually slowed. “That’s good,” he said reassuringly. “Does anything hurt? Sharp pain, not soreness.”

Harry blinked a few times, seeming to take stock of himself before shaking his head. “No, I feel all right,” he replied sluggishly.

“Good,” Texas said again. “That’s really good. You want to take the vibrator off now and get cleaned up?”

Harry nodded and slowly pushed himself up into a sitting position. His movements were abnormally slow and jerky, even for someone who seemed to move at a snail’s pace in their everyday life, but there were no outward signs of injury as he pulled off the cock ring and slid himself off the machine so he could undo his restraints again.

“You should eat some more,” Texas reminded Harry once he’d extricated himself from the mess of lube and come now covering the protective barrier on the bed.

Harry looked startled by the suggestion but nodded. Texas was surprised when, instead of walking out of the room to retrieve some snacks like he had before, or wishing Texas farewell on Skype right then and there now that the scene was over, he simply picked up the laptop and carried it out of the room with him right down to the kitchen.

Texas watched from Harry’s island countertop as Harry rifled through the fridge with his bare ass hanging out before emerging again with a carton of strawberries and some sparkling water. Texas watched him consume both in absolute silence before opening his mouth to speak again as they made their way back up the stairs.

“Did you have fun?” Texas asked as he stared at Harry’s armpit hair and tattoos through the webcam.

“Hmm?”

“Was it fun?” Texas asked again. “Did you like using the machine?”

“Oh! Yeah.” Harry’s voice took on a dreamy quality as he walked past the bed and into the master bath, where he set his laptop down between the two sinks before turning toward the bath. He stopped before he got there, as if realizing he’d forgotten something all of a sudden, and spun around again to face Texas on his computer screen. “Do you mind?” he asked uncertainly.

“What?” Texas replied, confused, as Harry gestured toward the bath itself. “Oh, do you want me to stay on with you?” he asked upon realizing what Harry had probably meant.

Harry shrugged, his eyes downcast. “You don’t have to,” he mumbled, already reaching toward his headset as though intending to take it off.

“No,” Texas protested, “of course I will. I want to. I’m always around to just talk if that’s what you want.”

Harry snorted softly and turned around again to start filling the bath. “You sound like a movie hooker now,” he joked.

“I basically am a movie hooker,” Texas reminded him. “But today, I’m your movie hooker. Tell me about work or something. Whatever you want.”

Getting Harry to talk about virtually nothing as he prepped the bath was easy enough, and even Texas fell into a false sense of security by the time Harry perched his laptop on the lip of the bathtub before climbing in. It was hard to remember that this was a job, and when that fact came careening into the forefront of Texas’s brain again just as Harry slipped under the water with a quiet hiss of discomfort, it made him feel a bit dizzy.

“You all right?” Harry asked, turning the question that Texas was usually responsible for asking right back around on him.

Texas forced a smile. “Never better,” he lied.


End file.
